The Souls Day at Janitzio Island, Mexico

A wonderful place to see.

Patzcuaro Lake, with Janitzio Island — Pixabay.

During the years I lived in Mexico before returning to Europe, I toured the country with great interest, as there are many pyramids and ruins of various native peoples. It is true the most important ones were the Mayas and the Aztecs, but they were not the only ones Hernán Cortés encountered when he conquered and colonized Mexico, New Spain.

Although the Olmecs were supposedly one of the pre-Hispanic peoples, from 1200 to 400 B.C., there were also others who were not even mentioned until much later. One of them were the Tarascan or Purepechans. It is most likely they were very ancient groups were there and mixed with others nearby, giving a more or less homogeneous result. However, both the Mayas and the Aztecs are known to have come to these lands from another place to the east called Aztlan, which esoteric books identify with the continent Atlantis.

Let’s locate on the map the area I am going to write about. Michoacán is one of the 32 States of the Mexican Republic and is located to the west of the central area of the country, with the Pacific Ocean to the south. In this State, in 1943 a volcano was born -the Paricutín-, which was active until 1952, and it is the only volcano whose birth date is known, since it emerged in a corn field without the slightest warning. The capital of Michoacán is Morelia, located in the north of the state, 188 miles (340 km) from Mexico City (or the Federal Capital; or Mexico, Federal District).

To the southwest of Morelia, there is a lake called Patzcuaro, and within this 51 square mile (130 square km) body of water, there are 7 islands, the largest and most important being the one called Janitzio, where the Souls Day or Day of the Dead is celebrated with much light and color on November 2.

Don’t miss it. It is something to experience, no matter how much of a believer you are, besides spending a sleepless night walking around the island, traveling with friends, and eating fish and other delicacies of Tarascan gastronomy. To all this we must add the possibility of drinking a beer, or. . . as far as the body can take it.

I traveled by bus with a female friend and a male friend from Mexico City to Morelia — 300 km or 186.42 miles, just over 4 hours). Morelia is a colonial…